Coast Guard won’t lead body recovery on Twin Lights

PROVINCETOWN – The Coast Guard does not typically raise a sunken vessel to recover a body believed to be trapped inside, according to the agency’s investigator in charge of the Twin Lights, the Provincetown scallop boat that sank Nov. 18 two miles north of Provincetown.

PROVINCETOWN – The Coast Guard does not typically raise a sunken vessel to recover a body believed to be trapped inside, according to the agency’s investigator in charge of the Twin Lights, the Provincetown scallop boat that sank Nov. 18 two miles north of Provincetown.

Under federal law, the Coast Guard must investigate marine casualties on commercial fishing vessels. But, Coast Guard investigator Lt. Kelli Dougherty said Wednesday that the money, equipment or people with skills needed to recover a body from a sunken vessel will generally be organized through family members, friends, insurance proceeds and other sources. That type of recovery would then be aided as much as possible by government agencies, such as the Coast Guard and state police, Dougherty said.

“A lot of time there’s a joint effort there,” she said.

On Tuesday, a dozen searchers, including Dougherty, used a remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, to scan the outside of the 40-foot fiberglass Twin Lights. The video camera on the ROV did not reveal whether the body of Capt. Jean Frottier, 69, of Wellfleet was inside the pilothouse because the windows were obscured, the waters were murky and the currents strong.

The vessel capsized before noon as Frottier tried to untangle his scallop dredge from another fisherman’s gear in the water. The lobster boat Glutton rescued crew member Eric Rego but was unable to reach the pilothouse because of the angle of the boat in the water and other dangers, according to Glutton Capt. Beau Gribbin.

The Twin Lights was one of about 54 commercial fishing vessels regularly docked at MacMillan Pier.